A widely used form of time recorder which has been used over decades is the time stamp. In such recorders, print wheels are rotated with the time of day. After a paper document such as a sheet or card is inserted into a slot, the print wheels are punched down to impact the document through an ink ribbon and thus imprint the correct time of day. Such time stamps may also include an engraved comment such as RECEIVED or PAID which is also printed on the document. Additionally, print wheels may be used to incrementally number successive documents.
In recent years, the engraved time and number wheels and comments have been replaced by dot matrix printers. The time recorders are microprocessor based so that they can be programmed by the user to set time, date, number sequence, comments and printing format. Typically, the time and date are set by the user using buttons while observing the time and date on a recorder display. Other features such as the comment to be printed and print format are typically selected by the use of codes programmed into the recorder using dip switches or programming buttons.